Pipes, bowls, stems and other smoking devices often become clogged with steady use. A pipe bowl cleaner with a poker is often used to clear a clogged smoking passage for better airflow through a pipe, bowl, stem, or other smoking device. Pipe bowl and bowls in general are almost always convex-shaped semi-spheres, much like the shape of a cereal bowl except a hole in the bottom allows air and smoke to flow through.
Pipe bowls are sometimes cleaned with a poker. In some cases, a pipe bowl is a cup-shaped object which is open at the top and which has a small hole opposite the open top. A poker is a narrow length of material—often metal—which can be inserted in be small hole to draw ash out of the pipe bowl through the small hole. A poker can be used for many things such as stirring the contents in the bowl, scraping, and clearing unwanted material out of a bowl.
Or, a poker may be used to access the pipe bowl through the open top of the pipe bowl. In this case, the pipe bowl may be turned upside down to allow the ash to fall out of the pipe bowl as a poker is used to scrape ashes out of the pipe bowl.
Thus, at least some pipe bowl cleaners include a poker. The poker in turn may be attached to a variety of implements from handles to ash-trays. In some cases, it may be desirable to design a pipe bowl cleaner that has a poker and that is portable.
Certain design issues may be considered with designing a portable pipe bowl cleaner. One design consideration is the overall size of the pipe bowl cleaner. A cleaner which is heavy and bulky is less likely to be conveniently portable.
Another possible design consideration may be whether the cleaner may be carried on one's person and used independently of any particular ashtray or other device. Another design consideration may be the extent to which the pipe bowl cleaner may be at least partly disassembled when not in use to make it easier to transport the pipe bowl cleaner.
Another possible design consideration may be whether the pipe bowl cleaner may be temporarily attached to a surface or to another device—such as an ashtray—for use in cleaning a pipe bowl.